Prosecution of Fraud in Scotland – Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
By Ann E. Orr, Principal Procurator Fiscal Depute, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the only authority responsible for the prosecution of crime in Scotland, including healthcare fraud. Procurators Fiscal are qualified lawyers who work solely as public prosecutors. Scotland is divided into 11 areas, each with a network of local Procurator Fiscal offices.
Usually, the police will carry out an initial crime investigation and send a report to the Procurator Fiscal, who will consider the report and decide whether to take any action in the case. Some bodies, however, such as NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services, are Specialist Reporting Agencies which means that their own investigators, who have specialist knowledge of the subject, will carry out the investigations then send reports directly to the Procurator Fiscal.
The Procurator Fiscal will consider the report and decide whether to take any action in the case. He or she may ask the investigators to make further enquiries and obtain additional evidence to support the case.
If there is enough evidence for a prosecution, the Procurator Fiscal will decide what action to take, whether that is by prosecution in court or by using direct measures, such as offering the accused the chance to pay a fine or to pay compensation without going to court. In making the decision about what to do in these cases, the Procurator Fiscal will consider a number of factors, such as the seriousness of the crime, the value of the fraud or whether the accused person has a criminal record.
In the most serious cases the Procurator Fiscal will interview the witnesses and carry out a detailed review of all the evidence before making a decision to prosecute.
In Scotland, a number of cases of National Health Service fraud have been successfully prosecuted as a result of investigations carried out by NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services. Some recent examples include a nurse who was claiming sick pay from one Health Board, while working for another; a computer systems analyst who altered medical certificates so that he could claim extra sick pay; a dentist who made false claims for payments to his business and a nurse who forged prescription forms to obtain medication.
The direct link established between Counter Fraud Services investigators and Procurators Fiscal has undoubtedly helped the prosecution process as investigators are trained in presenting evidence in the format required for prosecution purposes.
